GTD

I tried. I thought I was doing the right thing. I made lists and lists in my paper planner – LIFE ORG, LOVE, WRITING, ME, NEWBY, WORK, HOME – and months went by.

I still have this super cute planner that I take everywhere, and all the tasks get out of my head and onto paper, which is great, but they don’t… actually… get… done.

However, I was getting back into my “themed days” routine. When I started the Interaction Design course on Coursera, I continued with Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays as my “creative days” – with the focus on Coursera and my blog, and Tuesdays/Thursdays continued as my “task days” – for all the general tasks that need to be done. Like thank-you notes and submitting medical receipts to my health fund. Zzzz.

And then… just for something different… I started using Todoist. Primarily, because it has a prominent “TODAY” view, which Trello didn’t have, and in my current lifestyle (where there are so many priorities, so many things to do, that I have to fiercely protect any time that I use to dawdle/doodle/think/pause/rest) I can only deal with a clear “TODAY” view, or else I get overwhelmed and distracted and end up doing all the wrong things.

In my “TODAY” view, I’ve found, over the years, that 3 is my magic number – I only have 3 “must do” tasks every day. Once I’ve done them, I can add in extra tasks.

I re-write these 3 tasks onto a paper pad: if I get nothing else done today, I must do these 3 things!

Since using Todoist, just this week, I’ve already knocked a magnificent 18 tasks off my many to-do lists. Incroyable.

Annndddddd I have also set myself a daily “Pomodoro challenge,” using the Pomodoro Time app, where, if I can find (fiercely protect) 25-minutes a day, I have to write until the timer stops. Voilà, blog post!

Anyway, enough talking about how to do doing and more talk about doing.

The good

I’m halfway through my second pregnancy. Scans all look good. Time to think about baby names again – this is hard!

Loving the Coursera course I’m doing – Interaction Design – it has 7 subjects and then a “capstone project”. I’m only doing one subject at a time, about 4 hours a week of study. Currently doing subject #2, Design Principles.

Loving weekly yoga.

My partner James is the best. He likes cooking and gardening; I don’t like either of those things. He makes wonderful meals for us every night – on the rare occasion when we go out for dinner, it is tough to find something on the restaurant menu that sounds better than something James makes at home. He is affectionate. He is thoughtful. He loves being with his family. Even though he works full-time, he also shares many of the parenting jobs. (For example, we take each morning in turn, when the baby wakes up, because we’re both not morning people. So tomorrow, Kit might wake up at 6:30am, and it’s James’s morning, so he will get up with Kit and make breakfast and play with him, and I will have a little sleep-in. Best.)

The bad

I’ve been taking a book class at the local community centre. We’ve been doing readings of Pygmalion. It’s been good to get out of the house, go somewhere by myself, use my brain in an academic-ish way… but I don’t think I’ll take the class again. Not for me.

Saw the new James Bond movie last week (Spectre). It was very entertaining, but oh my gosh, also very frustrating. It had so much potential. 7/10.

Tried to read Amy Poehler’s book “Yes Please” (it had been recommended), could not get through it. Not for me.

Started to read “How to be a Parisian” (it had also been recommended), and… no. Nuh uh. Nope. Not for me.

The ugly

Just joking. Nothing to note here!

Okay – 25 minutes is up and gone. Goodnight, world. xo.

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Fox Woods (@msfoxwoods)
Hello. Yes, my name is Fox. I love making things (clubs, workshops, events, communities, stories, products, videos, music). I have two (2) small kids and one (1) small dog. I made the kids, but not the dog. That would be weird. ⇢ more